T-Mobile myTouch 4G review

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the heir apparent to the myTouch 3G throne and T-Mobile’s second HSPA+ handset, the myTouch 4G. The new device, which is manufactured by HTC, has all the trimmings of a flagship device: 1GHz processor, front and rear facing cameras, vivid touchscreen display, and, depending on whom you ask, a 4G radio. The myTouch 4G is getting the lion’s share of T-Mobile’s ad buys these days, but how does the handset perform when put to the test by your friends at BGR? Hit the jump to find out.

The Inside

While the first iteration of the myTouch handset — the myTouch 3G — was a solid device, it certainly was not one you could have considered a flagship. However, even with the presence of the G2 and HD7 in its handset lineup, the 4G looks to be the T-Mobile’s franchise device. Combine the advertisement blitz with the device’s spec sheet… and we think it’s fair to say that the mT4G is the S-Class of Magenta’s offerings.

The myTouch 4G runs the Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system and is skinned with T-Mobile’s myTouch UI. The overlay is a mash-up of several HTC Sense elements and a number of T-Mobile tweaks that, for the most part, do not hinder the phone’s performance. If you’re an Android purist, and can only tolerate handsets running un-modified versions of Google’s mobile OS, you may not enjoy the myTouch experience. For the majority of consumers, however, we feel the myTouch will do just fine. With T-Mobile’s UI comes the ability to change profiles, set screen lock timeouts, link contacts, and more. A lot of the “upsides” of the device we’ll highlight later in the review are a direct byproduct of the myTouch overlay… so we really can’t stay too many bad things about it.

The Outside

The myTouch 4G really is, in our opinion, quite a looker. The device is available in four different colors – black, white, red, and plum – and feels incredibly natural in one’s hand.

On the lower portion of the device’s front are the three Android keys: home, menu, and back. The fourth key, which is typically a search key on other Android handsets, has been replaced with a “Genius” button. The four keys sit just below the screen and are physical keys (not soft keys) that are beveled with rounded edges; the keys feel and function perfectly. Centered below the buttons is an optical track-pad. Just like the BlackBerry Bold 9700, the track-pad can navigate around the OS, scroll through webpages or emails, and, when depressed, select UI elements. We didn’t find ourselves using the track-pad for navigation very often, but it makes editing text infinitely easier. Tap the screen to get the cursor in the general area then slide your thumb left or right over the track-pad to zero in on what needs to be edited. Perfection.

On the upper section of the device is a centered earpiece (duh!) that is flanked on the left and right by an LED notification light and the front facing camera, respectively. The right side of the device is home to the dedicated two-stage camera button and the left side contains a volume up-down rocker, micro-USB port, and docking station contact-points. The top of the device houses the 3.5mm headphone jack and a flush-mounted sleep/wake/power button; the bottom of the device is nearly void except for a pinhole for the device’s microphone. Both the volume up-down rocker and the power button sit flush to the device and are painted in your myTouch’s selected color; the dedicated camera button is raised, textured, and chrome colored. The back of the device has an LED flash, camera lens opening, and speaker grill.

Regardless of which myTouch color you chose, the front of the device looks exactly the same: all black. There is a dull-chrome bezel that wraps around the front touch panel that leads your eyes to the colored portion of the phone. We do have to give T-Mobile and HTC credit for the way the color flows on this particular piece of hardware; it complements the phone without being tacky or distracting. We might even be able to tolerate the plum version…. might. The part of the device that actually wears the color is the plastic casing that wraps around the top, bottom, and sides of the phone. The colored piece also wraps around the back of the handset and borders the battery cover and camera bezel. The battery cover is made of metal and the plastic camera/speaker bezel is painted with the same dull-chrome color that is used on the front of the device.

Now, above we mentioned plastic, and we know what you’re thinking: cheap. This is simply not the case. The device has an extremely solid feel and a really comfortable-to-hold form. It has a little bit of an iPhone 3GS feel to it – especially the white and black models – and that isn’t a bad thing. You really do feel like you’re palming a well-built, durable piece of hardware.

The Upside

Earlier in the review we told you that the myTouch UI brought some desirable features to the myTouch 4G that are not present in stock Android. These features include profiles, threaded email, and security timeouts.

Profiles are something that have been around forever but are missing from stock Android and iOS. Currently, RIM’s BlackBerry OS and Nokia’s Symbian are the only two major players that utilize profiles as part of their mobile OS and we’re not really sure why. For us, profiles make life easier so we’re happy to see them in the myTouch 4G. The device allows you to edit/choose between four pre-configured profiles — Standard, KidZone, Home, and Work. With profiles – referred to as myModes by T-Mobile – you can control your handset’s theme, wallpaper, lock wallpaper, ringtone, notification tone, email notifications, and call forwarding. The KidZone, Work, and Home profiles are preconfigured to have certain behaviors, but they all can be adjusted. The KidZone profile, for example, disables access to messaging, the dialer, and more in case you want to let a child play games on the phone – which we think is pretty neat. If none of the preconfigured options is what you’re looking for, or you want more than the four profiles, you are free to add them. The recently released DROID Pro also has profiles — thanks to the BLUR interface — and we hope this feature makes its way into stock Android at some point.

Mobile email is a big motivating factor for users to take the plunge and buy a smartphone, and the client on the myTouch 4G does not disappoint. The device uses the standard Gmail application to handle Google’s email implementation and uses a client similar to the one found on most HTC sets for Exchange, POP, and IMAP accounts. If you pin the “Mail” icon to one of your home screens, it live-updates with a magenta badge and white text (think iOS) displaying how many unread messages are sitting in your inbox. The client also offers several views: the standard inbox, a Favs view (to browse all the messages from contacts you’ve marked as favorites), an attachments view (to see all messages carrying a document payload), and a conversation view. For us, since we usually have an inbox full of related messages, the conversation view is super helpful. You can also flag Exchange email and move messages into any standard Exchange folder (Trash, Drafts, Sent, etc). The myTouch 4G also respected the fact that our Exchange administrator had configured a password requirement and prompted us to set a device password upon account configuration.

Battery life on the myTouch is very good. You can easily get 18 to 20 hours out of the battery with moderate to heavy use (not including tethering). The device has a feature called “fast boot” that is on by default. With fast boot enabled the device never actually fully powers down, instead it sort of hibernates. If you’re familiar with BlackBerrys then you’ll know what we’re talking about. When you turn the device off and power it back on, it boots in a matter of seconds, because the device was never really all the way shutdown in the first place. It is a great feature, especially if you want to turn your phone off in a meeting, but does tax the battery more than you’ll want it to if, for example, you turn the device off while you’re sleeping. Having the device off for 8 to 9 hours while we were catching some Z’s spent around 15% of the handset’s battery. We chose to turn the feature off and deal with a 45 second boot time. We like that the option is there, but it is just something to be mindful of as it is on by default. We managed to use our laptop tethered for just over three hours before the battery of the device fully discharged — which is right on par with other Android sets.

Other niceties included the ability to set a security timeout after the screen sleeps, the media room application for sharing digital content using DLNA, the SWYPE keyboard, carrier supported visual voicemail that is free, and the device’s ability to make calls using a connected Wi-Fi network. Call quality over both Wi-Fi and cellular is very good, no anomalies or hiccups to report and the speakerphone is on par with other HTC-manufactured handsets.

The Downside

There were several things about the handset that we didn’t really love and we thought we would point out. First and foremost: the camera. It really is just okay. HTC isn’t known for making the best smartphone shooters and they definitely aren’t doing anything to help break that notion with the 5 megapixel showing on the myTouch 4G. If you’re indoors pictures are blurry and grainy and it is really easy to get completely distorted pictures with very little camera shake. The 720p video the device takes is very good, but getting quality stills out of the myTouch proved to be a challenge.

Another odd issue we were having was slowness and lag when we connected a laptop via the device’s Wi-Fi hotspot feature. We could browse for 20 or 30 minutes at a reasonable pace — some fluctuation in speed but that is expected — but after 30 or 40 minutes the phone’s hotspot would become unresponsive. Once this happened we tried toggling the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality on and off but the only thing that seemed to remedy the issue was a reboot. We saw several tech bloggers throw out S.O.S.’s on Twitter — asking for T-Mobile’s APN addresses — that mentioned the spottiness of the service as well, so we’re pretty sure it wasn’t our device or our location at fault. We mucked around with the handset’s settings a bit and couldn’t really come up with a workable solution. Our connection speeds also topped out at just under 5Mbps even though we were testing in an HSPA+ market.

The third major disappointment was using video chat on the device. It’s just bad. There, we said it. We love the fact that you can utilize VC over your phone’s cellular data connection but even on Wi-Fi we found the audio and video to be choppy, delayed, and uninviting.

Some other annoyances include the fact that in order to switch keyboard layouts you don’t navigate to Settings > Language and Keyboard. Instead, you have to go to an editable text field, press and hold the screen, select text input, and pick a keyboard from there. SWYPE is on by default and it was several hours before we eventually stumbled upon the hidden setting. Not all that intuitive.

Peep, HTC’s Twitter client, is what the myTouch uses for Twitter contact-list synchronization, but you can’t directly access the program from the application menu (it has no icon). For this reason you’ll end up downloading the official Twitter client (which is better in our opinion) and have duplicate notifications until you remove your Twitter/Peep account from the phone’s list of accounts.

Also, the three buttons present at the bottom of all home screens – Phone, All Applications, and myFavs – are not customizable. We like having the phone button on the left (which it is) and the browser button on the right — a la Nexus One — but couldn’t make it happen.

The Bottom Line

Here’s the bottom line: the myTouch 4G is a great phone. It has a great build and feel, workable UI enhancements, and some awesome convenience features. Are the data speeds and video-calling capabilities – two of the features T-Mobile is marketing the hardest – the most amazing we’ve ever seen? Not really, but your mileage may vary.

At the end of the day if you’re a user looking for a smartphone to keep you organized on a network with affordable voice and data plan offerings we can highly recommend the myTouch 4G. If you’re a gadget nerd looking to replace your HTC EVO, keep on looking.

I like my MyTouch 4G. I only wish I could put stock 2.2 on it, and get the front facing camera to work with Fring.

Neoprimal

The FFC works flawlessly with Yahoo, if that helps…lol. Fring needs an update pretty badly, I have issues like the keyboard typing not showing up in Fring. I suspect after an update it will work better. Tango may work for you (I don’t use it…but have heard about it).

Anonymous

So how was the phone,.. to you know, make calls?

Neoprimal

Great in my experience, on both cell modem calling as well as Wifi. I use Wifi N though, so I’m not sure how wonderful it is on G or less.

Chas19808

one great phone one giant leap for man kind. i love the phone and all the features that it brings to the consumer wouldn’t change it for the world.i also like the idea that you can watch t.v and transfer hd to your tv and that you can watch full tv programs great when you just want to be by your self and watch t.v. to anyone who is thinking about buying a mt 4g do it there no phone on this this earth that even comes close. htc really out did them selfs this time,well good luck on buying what i consider one of the best features on the phone

Larry

How did you get the video camera to work with out trails? Mine is not good.

Smalls

Great review, thank you. You hit all the points I was concerned about. And thank you for the tip on the keyboard! I was looking for that exact feature on MT4G and couldn’t find it. Thanks!

http://twitter.com/Obj_me Michael Hurlburt

Excellent review! Now is this display full color or only 16k like most other HTC displays? You guys didnt really touch on display quality… The specs look great though, very nice amount of ram! The only thing I can say, and this goes for all myTouch devices, is that they look a bit cheap. Now I can’t attest to how they feel in the palm of your hand but put them next to a droid x or pro, iPhone, or I hate to say it… A black berry and they just look like a toy! Just my 2 cents though….

Neoprimal

Display quality is from experience, pretty arguable.

Personally, I’ve had the Vibrant, G2 and the MT4G.
For me, Vibrant is #1 and the G2 and MT4G tie….however, I’ve read some people swearing up and down that the MT4G’s color is ‘washed out’ compared to the G2.

I SUSPECT it to be a situation where they’re seeing the black backgrounds and bars in the MT4G’s mySense UI and comparing it to the gray backgrounds and bars in the stock G2 and succumbing to the illusion that the G2 is more crisp/clear. I see 0 difference in comparing them side to side and I know they both use SLCD. This has made many users think the MT4G is using regular LCD. There’s also a case where people are probably seeing a placebo effect of thinking the MT4G is LCD vs. SLCD and seeing it as washed out because of this.

As I mentioned, coming from an objective PoV and seeing the 2 phones side by side, I see no difference except the fact that the borders on the MT4G are black vs. gray and it’s running a UI vs. being stock.

The best thing you can do for yourself is walk into a Tmobile store and compare them.

Bangarang

I’ve had both the G2 and the MT4G, and the screens are definitely different. The viewing angles are pretty weak on the MT4G, which is where I believe the “washed out” notion comes in. The specs listed say the MT4G has a regular TFT LCD.

http://rmbo47.myopenid.com/ rmbo47

Tell the truth, BGR. You did this review just to shut up the whiny biatch TMO fanboys who cried about no MyTouch review in the comments for the Droid Pro review, right?

Anonymous

Question in regards to your Video Calling experience…..there was an update pushed out that was supposed to help the Video Calling experience. It would come through the night after the first call was made on the newly activated device. Was this review done the day you received the device or was it definitely fully updated when you tried the Video Calling? Just curious. I ask because I’ve seen it work pretty flawlessly on QIK Mt4G to Mt4G(only tried it once though) but admittedly have had issues Mt4G to EVO at a different time and place not knowing which phone to contribute the issues to.

http://www.bgr.com Andrew Munchbach

We tested the video calling after getting the update. Once we were prompted for the update you couldn’t use the application unless you updated.

Anonymous

Thanks!

Nokia N900

About to return my MyTouch 4G and get the G2, the video calling is a nice feature to brag about, but pretty useless, I would rather have a keyboard and huge LED notification light.

Android

It should be noted that on every android phone, the Language & Keyboard settings are only used to select what options are visible to be used for keyboards and what the settings are for each program. You always need to long press an input menu to change the keyboard.

ingen

Thanks for the review, will you guys ever post the G2 review that was promised in the hands-on? Thinking of purchasing that phone as i’m stuck with T-Mo, but would like to read BGR’s review first!

crap4g

One of the worst Android phones I have ever had. Too much lag when flicking through the photo gallery, keeps dropping coverage from H to E to G. Battery life on normal use, lucky if it lasted 8 hours. Constantly hangs on when performing multiple tasks. Returning it today! My HD2 with Android runs better!

Robens7

Is android “fully” usable on your HD2? Any problems? I want to put in on mine as well.

Anonymous

Too funny. Everyone I’ve talked to that uses Android, and has the ability to make Video calls/chats via 3G, or better, say it sucks…Yet everyone bashes Apple for only offering it on WiFi; good reason, bandwidth [or lack of as it refers to 3G]. The experience off of WiFi for that is slow, choppy, buggy, and not reliable at all.

Essentially, “I have Video calling anywhere, anytime, but it really doesn’t work well..but I have it!”

Nice…a feature that doesn’t work well, or sucks the big one…LOL

Anonymous

VideoCall sucked on the Kaiser too and other “real” Japanese phones from the past on the Softbank network. Doesn’t mean the phone sucks.

Well if manufacturers actually gave a damn they would use better cameras everyone(at least I believe) knows VGA is one of the crappiest types of camera’s you can have. But word is that some other companies are upping the hardware to 2mp ffc’s. Android in itself isn’t yet optimized for FFC’s.

I’ve been using my HD2 since about March and have been using Android on since shortly after they made it available. While I’ll miss the screen size, I’m ready to move on to an Android phone. I was deciding between the MyTouch 4G and the G2 and I’m a little closer to deciding which I want after reading this. While having video chat is cool, I’m not that sold on it, but all the other features they’ve mentioned are definitely worth me trying it out. Will see.

Anonymous

I decided on the G2 because it’s a purer Android experience, the keyboard is really useful, and seems more XDA hacking on it.

OTOH, real buttons (MT4G) > touch-buttons (G2); G2 processor feels like it “lags” when you run Slacker, Waze, Google Nav, and Navizon at the same time (curse of the MSM72xx?) — HD2 never had a problem with running Garmin, Navizon, Google Maps (plus traffic) and Opera at the same time.

Either is still better than getting ganked by Samsung’s inability to Froyo the Vibrant.

http://twitter.com/iFlossHIC iFloss™

Sense UI from HTC > all other UI’s in my opinion.

Sense UI from T-Mobile sucks, I was using my best friend’s MyTouch Slide and quickly got annnoyed and had to give ti back to him; my friend has the MyTouch 4G and I didn’t even want to touch the phone, I was looking for the AutoBrightness setting on his Power Control widget and there was none. They over complicated the phone way too much, T-Mobile just doesn’t learn HTC knows what they’re doing with their Sense UI; T-Mo engineers….not so much.

http://twitter.com/kiwi0109 Ahkita Mathews

Sorry but I disagree with what was said about the video chat and hidden swype feature to disable it. I have had the mytouch 4g since it first came out and I have had video chat with a few people and i didn’t have any problems with it. I love my phone. My boyfriend has the evo and has played around with my phone and he like’s it a lot.

Emil Ghoting

Still not digging the chrome bezel, they should have kept it single color like the original. Heard great things about the phone though

joshie

I’m a bit addicted to reading phone reviews. Thanks for this one!

Garret Wilkinson

Sure is an ugly looking phone. I would much rather have a droid x, or google nexus S

Anonymous

Great phone period. This has it all. The video calling isn’t perfect but it works pretty damn good on my phone. For those that are raving about apple’s video calling on wifi, this phone has great video calling on wifi also but if I wanted to use video cht at home I would just use my laptop. I can use mine anywhere and it works damn good. As far as lag, doesn’t have any, I’m using Launcher pro on mine and it flies. I switch back and forth on the stock launcher and launcher pro. No lag at all. I own the Nexus One and the MyTouch 4G and if the MyTouch 4G wasn’t worth keeping I would send it packing.
PS I almost forgot, my download speeds are between 3.7 and over 7.5 mb and my upload speeds are a very consistent 1.5 mb. The speeds get faster daily. Even my Nexus One is getting download speeds over 6 mb and the upload is the same consistent 1.5 mb. Not too shabby.
THANK YOU T-MOBILE

Anonymous

I like the front. The back looks like crap.

Anonymous

I hate the UI, it would have been much better if the usual Sense UI was used…

http://twitter.com/j_nathaniel Jason

This feels like the phone that should have been the successor to the Nexus One. For me, it actually is, since I got rid of my Nexus One to get my hands in this…well, technically there was an HD7 in the mix but nevertheless it was worth it. This is definitely the best Android device I have used.

lily

This phone looks nice but has alot of problems.. The internet yes it quick , but it keeps saying web page not available you have to reboot your device everytime it says that.. Facebook syncs all the facebook contacts even if there not on your phone which is crappy i have my blackberry bold and it doesnt do that.. The fav fives icons doesnt change.The Phone freezes up when someone is calling and majority of the time you cant pick up this phone IS AWFUL